Frank Lloyd Wright: Murder, Myth, and Modernism is a documentary film which premiered on British television (BBC) in 2005.
The topic is the life and work of the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959).
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Director: Paul Tilzey
** Narrator: Matthew Rhys
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Available on YouTube
** Run time: 59 minutes
Several persons are interviewed in the film, including the following:
** Meryle Secrest (born 1930) – an author
Her biography about Frank Lloyd Wright was first published in 1992
** Ada Louise Huxtable (1921-2013) – an author
Her biography about Frank Lloyd Wright was published in 2004
** Eric Lloyd Wright (1929-2023) – an architect
He was the son of Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. and the grandson of the famous Frank Lloyd Wright
In this film, we follow the life and work of Frank Lloyd Wright.
It covers his professional career as an architect:
Many of the famous buildings designed by him are presented here, including Taliesin, Fallingwater, and the Guggenheim Museum.
The film also covers his personal life:
We are told he was loved by some and hated by others. He was not only a famous and popular person. He was also a highly controversial person who was criticized by many.
Here is a brief timeline of his life
1867 – He is born. As an adult, he lied about his age and claimed he was born in 1869
1886 – He moves to Chicago
1887 – He gets a job working for a firm owned by architect Louis Sullivan
1889 – He is married to Kitty Tobin (1871-1959) – Over the following years, the couple has six children
1893 – He is fired by Louis Sullivan, because he has been working on projects outside the firm, which is against the rules – He creates his own company – From now on he is his own boss
1908 – The Unity Temple is designed and built
1909 – He causes a big scandal when he abandons his family – he runs away with his lover Mayma Borthwick (1869-1914) who is the wife of a former client – they sail to Europe where they live for one year
1910 – Frank and Mayma return to the USA
1910 - He designs and starts to build a home for himself: Taliesin
1911 – Frank and Mayma move into Taliesin
1914 – Disaster strikes: while Frank is in Chicago, a former servant or cook attacks all persons who are present in Taliesin. Having killed seven of nine persons present, including Mayma, he sets the place on fire. Only two people survive, because they manage to escape.
1914 - Frank decides that Taliesin must be rebuilt
1916 – Frank sails to Japan with his new lover Miriam Noel (1869-1930) – He has to design the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo
1917 – Construction of the Imperial Hotel begins
1923 – Construction of the Imperial Hotel is completed – This hotel is no longer standing: it was demolished in 1968
1923 – He is married to Miriam
1923 - He designs Ennis House in Los Angeles
1924 – Frank and Miriam break up with each other – He has a new lover: Olgivanna (1898-1985)
1924 – Ennis House is built
1925 – There is a small fire at Taliesin – But this time it is not a big disaster. There is no loss of life
1926 – He starts to work on his autobiography
1927 – He divorces Miriam
1928 – He marries Olgivanna
1932 – His autobiography is published – Frank and Olgivanna create the Fellowship
1934 – He designs Fallingwater – This is perhaps his most famous building
1937 – Taliesin West (in Arizona) is built
1947 – He begins to design the Guggenheim Museum
1956 – Construction of the Guggenheim Museum begins
1959 – Frank dies on 09 April
1959 – The Guggenheim Museum is completed and opens for business on 21 October
As you can see, Frank Lloyd Wright had a long life and a long career as an architect.
He designed numerous buildings. Many of them were actually built. Some of them are still standing today.
When he designs a house, he wants the house to be a part of the landscape. According to him, a house should not be on a hill. It should be of a hill. The house should not stand out. It should be a part of the environment.
In addition, local materials such as stone and wood, should be used to build the house. He calls this principle organic architecture.
His own home Taliesin is an example of organic architecture. But he does not always follow his own principle. Ennis House in Los Angeles is built on top of a hill. This building stands out. It is not a part of the environment.
When he designs the interior of a house, he wants to have a large open space: Living room, dining room and kitchen must be one large area. No walls. No doors. The family should be together in this large space.
He does not want the father to be in the living room, the mother in the kitchen, the son in one room, and the daughter in another room. No separation by walls and doors. He wants a large open space where everyone can be together.
Having a large open space may be a good idea, if the house is built in a place where the temperature is around 20 degrees Celsius all year. But it is not a good idea, if the house is built in a place where there is a hot summer or a cold winter (or both).
It is very expensive to heat a large space during a cold winter. It is cheaper to heat one or two small rooms. The same is true during a hot summer: it is expensive to cool a large space with air condition. It is cheaper to cool one or two small rooms with air condition.
When Frank Lloyd Wright designed his houses, it seems he did not think about the price which must be paid for heating in winter or cooling in summer.
When the interior of a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is shown in films and photos, we always see the large space: the living room and the dining room.
But what about a bedroom?
What about a bathroom?
Perhaps even Frank Lloyd Wright would like to have a bedroom and a bathroom separated by walls and doors? But we never see a bedroom or a bathroom in his houses.
Why not?
Perhaps because they are traditional?
Perhaps because they are ordinary?
During a long life and a long career there were some difficult moments when his world was turned upside down; when his life was in a crisis. Three moments deserve to be mentioned here:
# 1. The first moment was in 1909, when he decided to abandon his family and go to Europe with a lover. His action as a private person affected his professional career. And in this case, he only had himself to blame.
He was a well-known person. But when he violated the traditional norms of society, many people turned against him. As an architect, he suffered a dry spell. For a while, he did not get any new commissions, because he had abandoned his family.
# 2. The second moment was in 1914, when seven persons including his lover Mayma were killed and when Taliesin was set on fire. This time it was not his fault. He was not present when this happened. It is doubtful that he would have been able to prevent or stop the disaster if he had been present.
# 3. The third moment came after the collapse of the stock market in 1929 which caused a deep economic crisis during the 1930s. For a while, he had almost no new commissions. How was he going to live?
His wife Olgivanna offered a solution. She told him to
finish his autobiography. He did it.
He completed the manuscript. When the book was published in 1932, it was a bestseller.
This was a good solution, but it was only a temporary solution. He needed more to survive. Together Frank and Olgivanna came up with a solution:
They created the fellowship.
Young men and women who wanted to study architecture could come and stay with them. The students could watch the master working, perhaps even work with the master.
Taliesin could become a school of architecture. Students would pay to attend the school and the tuition money would support Frank and Olgivanna and their lives at Taliesin.
Once the students arrived, they were given some tasks. They soon discovered that some of these tasks had nothing to do with studying architecture.
They had to work around the house and in the garden. They had paid good money to study there, but they were treated like servants.
Students who did not like this, left the place at once. Students who accepted the conditions decided to stay and many of them later published positive accounts of their time with the master at Taliesin.
The fellowship was a cult of personality. Those who liked it stayed and never complained about their experience at this un-traditional school of architecture.
We can count at least three difficult moments in his life. And we can see that whenever there was a difficult moment, he managed to reinvent himself and start a new chapter of his life.
Like a phoenix, he was able to rise from the ashes and start over.
Frank Lloyd Wright had great talent as an architect. But as a person, he was arrogant and egotistical.
He was a control-freak who always knew everything better than others.
When he designed a house, he gave the client what he believed the client should have. He did not give the client what the client had said he wanted.
When a house had been built and the owners had moved in, he would sometimes enter the house, while the owners were out, and while he was there, he would re-arrange the furniture and remove items which did not fit with his plans for this house!
He was an architect. Not an engineer. His houses did not always live up to the great expectations which the clients had. When a client called him to complain, because the roof in the kitchen was leaking, he responded:
“Just get out of the kitchen!”
Some of his ideas were too advanced for his time. Some of his buildings began to fall apart soon after they were completed.
Ennis House in Los Angeles suffered from several problems, even before it was completed. Today there are some serious problems with the foundation.
A few years ago, this building was closed to the public, because it is regarded as a dangerous place. Something might suddenly collapse.
Ennis House was often used as an interesting and highly unusual background in a movie.
In 2001, it was used in a music video for the song Have You Ever by S Club 7.
This music video was filmed shortly before the building was closed to the public.
What do reviewers say about this documentary film about Frank Lloyd Wright and his buildings?
On IMDb it has a rating of 68 percent which corresponds to a rating of 3.4 stars on Amazon.
In my opinion, this rating is a bit too low. I want to offer more. But I cannot go all the way to the top. In my opinion, this film deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).
REFERENCES
# 1. Books
Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography
By Meryle Secrest
(1992)
Frank Lloyd Wright
By Ada Louise Huxtable
(2004)
Frank Lloyd Wright: Houses
By Alan Hess and Kenneth Frampton (text) and Alan Weintraub (photos)
(2005)
The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship
By Roger Friedland and Harold Zellman
(2006 = hardcover)
(2007 = paperback)
The Women
By T. C. Boyle
2009
This book is a work of fiction. It is a historical novel inspired by the life of Frank Lloyd Wright and the women in his life.
# 2. Film and video
Frank Lloyd Wright
Director: Ken Burns
This documentary film (divided into two parts) premiered in 1998
Run time: 82 + 73 minutes = 155 minutes
Rating on IMDb = 78 percent
Rating on Rotten Tomatoes = 88 percent
Frank Lloyd Wright:
The Man Who Built America
This documentary film premiered in 2017
Presented by the Welsh architect Jonathan Adams
Director: Ian Michael Jones
Run time: 59 minutes
Rating on IMDb = 77 percent
Frank Lloyd Wright:
Phoenix from the Ashes
Director: Sigrid Faltin
Run time: 53 minutes
This documentary film premiered in 2020.
In 2023, it was shown on French and German television (arte).
The German version of this film is available on YouTube.
Rating on IMDb = 76 percent
# 3. Items available online
Barbara Hoffman
“Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright had a dark side,”
New York Post
07 June 2017 (updated 09 June 2017)
Regina Cole
“Frank Lloyd Wright: America’s best-known architect is also its most reviled,”
Forbes
22 January 2022
Leslie Livingston
“The infamous Frank Lloyd Wright:
A modern-day Henry VIII,”
The Geographical Cure
11 February 2022 (updated 27 September 2023)
Tim Butters
“The untold truth of Frank Lloyd Wright,”
House Digest
03 March 2023
*****
The famous American architect
Frank Lloyd Wright
(1867-1959)
*****
Taliesin
Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
in 1910
*****
Ennis House in Los Angeles
Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
in 1923
*****
Fallingwater
Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
in 1934
*****
The Guggenheim Museum in New York
Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
in 1947
Construction begins in 1956
Construction is completed in 1959
*****
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